The early Quakers denounced the clergy and social élite but how did that affect Friends' relationships with others? Drawing upon the insights of sociologists and ...
More

The early Quakers denounced the clergy and social élite but how did that affect Friends' relationships with others? Drawing upon the insights of sociologists and anthropologists, this study sets out to discover the social consequences of religious belief. Why did the sect appoint its own midwives to attend Quaker women during confinement? Was animosity to Quakerism so great that Friends were excluded from involvement in parish life? And to what extent were the remarkably high literacy rates of Quakers attributable to the Quaker faith or wider social forces? Using a wide range of primary source material, this study demonstrates that Quakers were not the marginal and isolated people that contemporaries and historians often portrayed. Indeed the sect had a profound impact not only upon members, but more widely by encouraging a greater tolerance of diversity in early modern society.Less

The Quakers in English Society, 1655-1725

Adrian Davies

Published in print: 2000-02-17

The early Quakers denounced the clergy and social élite but how did that affect Friends' relationships with others? Drawing upon the insights of sociologists and anthropologists, this study sets out to discover the social consequences of religious belief. Why did the sect appoint its own midwives to attend Quaker women during confinement? Was animosity to Quakerism so great that Friends were excluded from involvement in parish life? And to what extent were the remarkably high literacy rates of Quakers attributable to the Quaker faith or wider social forces? Using a wide range of primary source material, this study demonstrates that Quakers were not the marginal and isolated people that contemporaries and historians often portrayed. Indeed the sect had a profound impact not only upon members, but more widely by encouraging a greater tolerance of diversity in early modern society.

What was distinctive about the founding principles and practices of Quakerism? This book explores how the Light Within became the organising principles of this seventeenth-century movement, ...
More

What was distinctive about the founding principles and practices of Quakerism? This book explores how the Light Within became the organising principles of this seventeenth-century movement, inaugurating an influential dissolution of the boundary between the human and the divine. Taking an original perspective on this most enduring of radical religious groups, it combines literary and historical approaches to produce a fresh study of Quaker cultural practice. Close readings of George Fox's Journal are put in dialogue with the voices of other early Friends and their critics to argue that the ‘light within’ set the terms for the unique Quaker mode of embodying spirituality and inhabiting the world. This study of the cultural consequences of a bedrock belief shows how the Quaker spiritual self was premised on a profound continuity between sinful subjects and godly omnipotence. It will be of interest not only to scholars and students of seventeenth-century literature and history, but also to those concerned with the Quaker movement, spirituality and the changing meanings of religious practice in the early modern period.Less

George Fox and Early Quaker Culture

Hilary Hinds

Published in print: 2011-08-31

What was distinctive about the founding principles and practices of Quakerism? This book explores how the Light Within became the organising principles of this seventeenth-century movement, inaugurating an influential dissolution of the boundary between the human and the divine. Taking an original perspective on this most enduring of radical religious groups, it combines literary and historical approaches to produce a fresh study of Quaker cultural practice. Close readings of George Fox's Journal are put in dialogue with the voices of other early Friends and their critics to argue that the ‘light within’ set the terms for the unique Quaker mode of embodying spirituality and inhabiting the world. This study of the cultural consequences of a bedrock belief shows how the Quaker spiritual self was premised on a profound continuity between sinful subjects and godly omnipotence. It will be of interest not only to scholars and students of seventeenth-century literature and history, but also to those concerned with the Quaker movement, spirituality and the changing meanings of religious practice in the early modern period.

Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson stepped into the prevailing winds of holiness when he joined the Chester Preparative of the Westfield Monthly Meeting in 1889. By this time, holiness had flourished in the ...
More

Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson stepped into the prevailing winds of holiness when he joined the Chester Preparative of the Westfield Monthly Meeting in 1889. By this time, holiness had flourished in the soil of Indiana Quakerism for over 20 years. The emergence of the holiness movement within the Society of Friends was dubbed as the “transformation of American Quakerism”. Many Friends had begun following the lead of Joseph John Gurney in dismantling the walls separating them from the wider world of evangelicalism. They embraced Victorian middle class culture, and believed in the efficacy of rational means to advance moral and religious cases such as abolition.Less

Quaker Holiness

Roger Glenn Robins

Published in print: 2004-11-11

Ambrose Jessup Tomlinson stepped into the prevailing winds of holiness when he joined the Chester Preparative of the Westfield Monthly Meeting in 1889. By this time, holiness had flourished in the soil of Indiana Quakerism for over 20 years. The emergence of the holiness movement within the Society of Friends was dubbed as the “transformation of American Quakerism”. Many Friends had begun following the lead of Joseph John Gurney in dismantling the walls separating them from the wider world of evangelicalism. They embraced Victorian middle class culture, and believed in the efficacy of rational means to advance moral and religious cases such as abolition.

As an artist, an impresario, a biographer and a collector, Roland Penrose (1900–1984) is a key figure in the study of modern art in England. This book explores the intricacies of Penrose's life and ...
More

As an artist, an impresario, a biographer and a collector, Roland Penrose (1900–1984) is a key figure in the study of modern art in England. This book explores the intricacies of Penrose's life and work, tracing the profound effects of his upbringing in a Quaker household on his values, the early influence of Roger Fry, and his friendships with Max Ernst, André Breton and other surrealists, especially Paul Éluard. Penrose's conflicted relationship with Pablo Picasso, his tireless promotion of surrealism and the production of his own surrealist art are also discussed. Penrose's complex professional and personal lives are handled with a deftness of touch, including his pacifism, his work as a biographer and art historian, as well as his unconventionality, especially in his two marriages — including that to Lee Miller — and his numerous love affairs.Less

Roland Penrose : The Life of a Surrealist

James King

Published in print: 2016-08-01

As an artist, an impresario, a biographer and a collector, Roland Penrose (1900–1984) is a key figure in the study of modern art in England. This book explores the intricacies of Penrose's life and work, tracing the profound effects of his upbringing in a Quaker household on his values, the early influence of Roger Fry, and his friendships with Max Ernst, André Breton and other surrealists, especially Paul Éluard. Penrose's conflicted relationship with Pablo Picasso, his tireless promotion of surrealism and the production of his own surrealist art are also discussed. Penrose's complex professional and personal lives are handled with a deftness of touch, including his pacifism, his work as a biographer and art historian, as well as his unconventionality, especially in his two marriages — including that to Lee Miller — and his numerous love affairs.

This chapter opens with an account of Selina Mills, the daughter of a Quaker bookseller in Bristol. It shows how she took over the running of the school set up by Hannah More and her sisters. The ...
More

This chapter opens with an account of Selina Mills, the daughter of a Quaker bookseller in Bristol. It shows how she took over the running of the school set up by Hannah More and her sisters. The school was nearly destroyed when an heiress pupil, Clementina Clerke, eloped with the surgeon, Richard Vining Perry. The case came to trial in 1794 when Perry was acquitted of the charge of abducting a minor. The chapter then recounts the early career of Zachary Macaulay showing how his experiences in Jamaica made him an implacable opponent of the slave trade. His period as governor of the Sierra Leone colony is described. His courtship of Selina Mills was frustrated by the hostility of Hannah More and her sister Patty, and also by Selina’s reluctance to go with him to Sierra Leone.Less

‘Jacob and Rachel’: Zachary Macaulay and Selina Mills

Anne Stott

Published in print: 2012-03-01

This chapter opens with an account of Selina Mills, the daughter of a Quaker bookseller in Bristol. It shows how she took over the running of the school set up by Hannah More and her sisters. The school was nearly destroyed when an heiress pupil, Clementina Clerke, eloped with the surgeon, Richard Vining Perry. The case came to trial in 1794 when Perry was acquitted of the charge of abducting a minor. The chapter then recounts the early career of Zachary Macaulay showing how his experiences in Jamaica made him an implacable opponent of the slave trade. His period as governor of the Sierra Leone colony is described. His courtship of Selina Mills was frustrated by the hostility of Hannah More and her sister Patty, and also by Selina’s reluctance to go with him to Sierra Leone.

How do both a religious community and a religion change when their members must face contradictions between their ideals and the society in which they live? This question is answered here by using ...
More

How do both a religious community and a religion change when their members must face contradictions between their ideals and the society in which they live? This question is answered here by using archaeological and archival information to trace the life of a group of Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends) residing in the British Virgin Islands between 1741 and 1763. A group of mostly poor, white planters formed this unique community inspired by the ideals of equality, simplicity, and peace. However, these ideals were enacted in a slave society, with all or nearly all the members holding enslaved people themselves, attempting to improve their lot through the violent appropriation of labor from others on plantations. Combining archival and archaeological evidence, the book shows how modern expectations of “Quakerly” behavior are not met in this community. Instead, we find Quakerism being negotiated in creative ways that fit within a slavery-based economy and society: through foods, relationships with other planters and the enslaved people themselves, and social advancement. Community is often conceived as something every member shares equally, but the historical archaeology approach and anthropological analysis of this volume shows how social groups like religions are full of conflicting perspectives and goals—in this case, conflicts which led to the group’s end after one generation. By examining how one small group interpreted Quakerism’s ideals in the contrasting environment of the eighteenth-century Caribbean, we learn what a religion is and how it matters in the daily lives of its members.Less

Simplicity, Equality, and Slavery : An Archaeology of Quakerism in the British Virgin Islands, 1740-1780

John M. Chenoweth

Published in print: 2017-03-28

How do both a religious community and a religion change when their members must face contradictions between their ideals and the society in which they live? This question is answered here by using archaeological and archival information to trace the life of a group of Quakers (members of the Religious Society of Friends) residing in the British Virgin Islands between 1741 and 1763. A group of mostly poor, white planters formed this unique community inspired by the ideals of equality, simplicity, and peace. However, these ideals were enacted in a slave society, with all or nearly all the members holding enslaved people themselves, attempting to improve their lot through the violent appropriation of labor from others on plantations. Combining archival and archaeological evidence, the book shows how modern expectations of “Quakerly” behavior are not met in this community. Instead, we find Quakerism being negotiated in creative ways that fit within a slavery-based economy and society: through foods, relationships with other planters and the enslaved people themselves, and social advancement. Community is often conceived as something every member shares equally, but the historical archaeology approach and anthropological analysis of this volume shows how social groups like religions are full of conflicting perspectives and goals—in this case, conflicts which led to the group’s end after one generation. By examining how one small group interpreted Quakerism’s ideals in the contrasting environment of the eighteenth-century Caribbean, we learn what a religion is and how it matters in the daily lives of its members.

This part of the book includes the poetry by Toomer that derived from an espousal of Quaker religious philosophy. The poetry canon produced here constitutes a dramatization of consciousness, a ...
More

This part of the book includes the poetry by Toomer that derived from an espousal of Quaker religious philosophy. The poetry canon produced here constitutes a dramatization of consciousness, a veritable phenomenology of the spirit. This phase came after Toomer moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1938 where he was almost immediately attracted to Quakerism.Less

The Christian Existential Period (1940–1955)

Robert B. Jones

Published in print: 1988-03-31

This part of the book includes the poetry by Toomer that derived from an espousal of Quaker religious philosophy. The poetry canon produced here constitutes a dramatization of consciousness, a veritable phenomenology of the spirit. This phase came after Toomer moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1938 where he was almost immediately attracted to Quakerism.

This chapter explores the many forms of women's prophetic writings, many of which redefined religious possibilities for women, especially within radical religious groups, which accordingly allowed ...
More

This chapter explores the many forms of women's prophetic writings, many of which redefined religious possibilities for women, especially within radical religious groups, which accordingly allowed for a political intervention on their part. It utilizes four women to represent different strands in this phenomenon. It views the different ways in which their writing was received and either abandoned or preserved. It first analyses Lady Eleanor Davies/Douglas' writings, an aristocratic woman whose visions and prophecies ultimately set her against both King Charles I and Cromwell. It then examines the writings of the fifth Monarchist Anna Trapnel, whose visions occurred during a particularly delicate stage in the Interregnum during the Barebones Parliament (1654). The third is Margaret Fell, who was the most significant Quaker besides George Fox in the 17th century. Lastly, Jane Lead's writings, in contrast to Fell's, lapsed into obscurity with the decline of her religious group, the Philadelphian Society.Less

Prophets and Visionaries

Paul Salzman

Published in print: 2006-11-30

This chapter explores the many forms of women's prophetic writings, many of which redefined religious possibilities for women, especially within radical religious groups, which accordingly allowed for a political intervention on their part. It utilizes four women to represent different strands in this phenomenon. It views the different ways in which their writing was received and either abandoned or preserved. It first analyses Lady Eleanor Davies/Douglas' writings, an aristocratic woman whose visions and prophecies ultimately set her against both King Charles I and Cromwell. It then examines the writings of the fifth Monarchist Anna Trapnel, whose visions occurred during a particularly delicate stage in the Interregnum during the Barebones Parliament (1654). The third is Margaret Fell, who was the most significant Quaker besides George Fox in the 17th century. Lastly, Jane Lead's writings, in contrast to Fell's, lapsed into obscurity with the decline of her religious group, the Philadelphian Society.

This chapter discusses the growth of Quakerism after the Restoration and its decline. An examination of the figures detailing the membership of ...
More

This chapter discusses the growth of Quakerism after the Restoration and its decline. An examination of the figures detailing the membership of the movement helps explain why so many of the official pronouncements of the Society emphasized the need to maintain Quaker children within the movement starting from the 1690s onwards. It has been suggested that Quakerism settled in those areas where Puritanism had never been strong. For this reason, it is believed that Quakerism had shallow roots in Essex. The consensus hitherto has been that Quakerism was predominantly a rural movement. In the 18th century, Voltaire hinted that the decline of Quakerism in London was because of the involvement of the members and success in commerce.Less

The Growth and Decline of Quakerism

ADRIAN DAVIES

Published in print: 2000-02-17

This chapter discusses the growth of Quakerism after the Restoration and its decline. An examination of the figures detailing the membership of the movement helps explain why so many of the official pronouncements of the Society emphasized the need to maintain Quaker children within the movement starting from the 1690s onwards. It has been suggested that Quakerism settled in those areas where Puritanism had never been strong. For this reason, it is believed that Quakerism had shallow roots in Essex. The consensus hitherto has been that Quakerism was predominantly a rural movement. In the 18th century, Voltaire hinted that the decline of Quakerism in London was because of the involvement of the members and success in commerce.

This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to consider the social consequences of religious belief. It discovers the ...
More

This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to consider the social consequences of religious belief. It discovers the relationship between converts to and followers of the Quaker faith, and with whom they shared their everyday lives in local society. It uses a wide range of primary source materials which demonstrate that Quakers were not marginal and isolated people.Less

Introduction

ADRIAN DAVIES

Published in print: 2000-02-17

This introductory chapter sets out the purpose of the book, which is to consider the social consequences of religious belief. It discovers the relationship between converts to and followers of the Quaker faith, and with whom they shared their everyday lives in local society. It uses a wide range of primary source materials which demonstrate that Quakers were not marginal and isolated people.

This chapter discusses the distrust between Quakers and the clergy. Suspicion and hatred between churchmen and Quakers were provoked by the ...
More

This chapter discusses the distrust between Quakers and the clergy. Suspicion and hatred between churchmen and Quakers were provoked by the doctrinal views of Friends, clear refusal to accept church authority, and the Quaker challenge to the legitimacy of tithe payments. Quakerism carried in its train more than aggressive proselytizing in the parish and disrespect of clerical authority.Less

Spiritual Warriors

ADRIAN DAVIES

Published in print: 2000-02-17

This chapter discusses the distrust between Quakers and the clergy. Suspicion and hatred between churchmen and Quakers were provoked by the doctrinal views of Friends, clear refusal to accept church authority, and the Quaker challenge to the legitimacy of tithe payments. Quakerism carried in its train more than aggressive proselytizing in the parish and disrespect of clerical authority.

This is the first extended study of Wordsworth’s complex, subtle, and often conflicted engagement with the material and cultural legacies of monasticism. It reveals that a set of topographical, ...
More

This is the first extended study of Wordsworth’s complex, subtle, and often conflicted engagement with the material and cultural legacies of monasticism. It reveals that a set of topographical, antiquarian, and ecclesiastical sources consulted by Wordsworth between 1806 and 1822 provided extensive details of the routines, structures, landscapes, and architecture of the medieval monastic system. In addition to offering a new way of thinking about religious dimensions of Wordsworth’s work and his views on Roman Catholicism, the book offers original insights into a range of important issues in his poetry and prose, including the historical resonances of the landscape, local attachment and memorialization, gardening and cultivation, Quakerism and silence, solitude and community, pastoral retreat and national identity. Wordsworth’s interest in monastic history helps explain significant stylistic developments in his writing. In this often-neglected phase of his career, Wordsworth undertakes a series of generic experiments in order to craft poems capable of reformulating and refining taste; he adapts popular narrative forms and challenges pastoral conventions, creating difficult, austere poetry that, he hopes, will encourage contemplation and subdue readers’ appetites for exciting narrative action. This book thus argues for the significance and innovative qualities of some of Wordsworth’s most marginalized writings. It grants poems such as The White Doe of Rylstone, The Excursion, and Ecclesiastical Sketches the centrality Wordsworth believed they deserved, and reveals how Wordsworth’s engagement with the monastic history of his local region inflected his radical strategies for the creation of taste.Less

Wordsworth's Monastic Inheritance : Poetry, Place, and the Sense of Community

Jessica Fay

Published in print: 2018-05-10

This is the first extended study of Wordsworth’s complex, subtle, and often conflicted engagement with the material and cultural legacies of monasticism. It reveals that a set of topographical, antiquarian, and ecclesiastical sources consulted by Wordsworth between 1806 and 1822 provided extensive details of the routines, structures, landscapes, and architecture of the medieval monastic system. In addition to offering a new way of thinking about religious dimensions of Wordsworth’s work and his views on Roman Catholicism, the book offers original insights into a range of important issues in his poetry and prose, including the historical resonances of the landscape, local attachment and memorialization, gardening and cultivation, Quakerism and silence, solitude and community, pastoral retreat and national identity. Wordsworth’s interest in monastic history helps explain significant stylistic developments in his writing. In this often-neglected phase of his career, Wordsworth undertakes a series of generic experiments in order to craft poems capable of reformulating and refining taste; he adapts popular narrative forms and challenges pastoral conventions, creating difficult, austere poetry that, he hopes, will encourage contemplation and subdue readers’ appetites for exciting narrative action. This book thus argues for the significance and innovative qualities of some of Wordsworth’s most marginalized writings. It grants poems such as The White Doe of Rylstone, The Excursion, and Ecclesiastical Sketches the centrality Wordsworth believed they deserved, and reveals how Wordsworth’s engagement with the monastic history of his local region inflected his radical strategies for the creation of taste.

This chapter summarises the preceding discussions and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. Quakerism was one answer to the pressure and uncertainty of the dominant predestinarian ...
More

This chapter summarises the preceding discussions and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. Quakerism was one answer to the pressure and uncertainty of the dominant predestinarian position on election and reprobation. Saint and sinner were unified, co-existing in the same human subject, as in more orthodox reformed interpretations, but, for Quakers, in a different configuration. Quakerism announced the reality of a single spiritual condition: the universally present inward light, available to all. The sharply bifurcated doubleness of the human condition (those who turned to, and those who refused so to turn) hereby revealed itself to be unreliable – itself evidence of human frailty and sin, in people's refusal to accept the unity with the divine and with humanity that was delivered by an indwelling Christ. Quakers reversed the Calvinist structural dynamic of spiritual subjectivity, perceiving duality to be definitive only of the fallen human state, which masked the greater reality, both actual and potential, of divine unity.Less

Conclusion: singularity and doubleness

Hilary Hinds

Published in print: 2011-08-31

This chapter summarises the preceding discussions and presents some concluding thoughts from the author. Quakerism was one answer to the pressure and uncertainty of the dominant predestinarian position on election and reprobation. Saint and sinner were unified, co-existing in the same human subject, as in more orthodox reformed interpretations, but, for Quakers, in a different configuration. Quakerism announced the reality of a single spiritual condition: the universally present inward light, available to all. The sharply bifurcated doubleness of the human condition (those who turned to, and those who refused so to turn) hereby revealed itself to be unreliable – itself evidence of human frailty and sin, in people's refusal to accept the unity with the divine and with humanity that was delivered by an indwelling Christ. Quakers reversed the Calvinist structural dynamic of spiritual subjectivity, perceiving duality to be definitive only of the fallen human state, which masked the greater reality, both actual and potential, of divine unity.

During a speaking tour of Massachusetts in 1837, Angelina Grimké, one of the most popular speakers for the American Anti-Slavery Society, defended women's rights as a cause equal in importance to ...
More

During a speaking tour of Massachusetts in 1837, Angelina Grimké, one of the most popular speakers for the American Anti-Slavery Society, defended women's rights as a cause equal in importance to slavery. Her oratory ushered in a new path for women in the antislavery movement and inspired the emergence of an autonomous women's rights movement in 1848. This chapter examines how and why Grimké successfully launched a women's rights movement within American abolitionism. Drawing on Grimké's private writings, it traces the spiritual odyssey that guided her into abolitionist feminism and how powerful international influences, such as Quakerism, repressed and radicalized her quest. It also looks at how religion enabled Grimké to re-create herself and explore new forms of citizenship as well as subjective aspects of her personal identity.Less

Kathryn Kish Sklar

Published in print: 2007-05-22

During a speaking tour of Massachusetts in 1837, Angelina Grimké, one of the most popular speakers for the American Anti-Slavery Society, defended women's rights as a cause equal in importance to slavery. Her oratory ushered in a new path for women in the antislavery movement and inspired the emergence of an autonomous women's rights movement in 1848. This chapter examines how and why Grimké successfully launched a women's rights movement within American abolitionism. Drawing on Grimké's private writings, it traces the spiritual odyssey that guided her into abolitionist feminism and how powerful international influences, such as Quakerism, repressed and radicalized her quest. It also looks at how religion enabled Grimké to re-create herself and explore new forms of citizenship as well as subjective aspects of her personal identity.

This chapter presents Jemima Wilkinson's The Universal Friend's Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society, a pamphlet containing the Comforter's religious doctrines and practices. The primary ...
More

This chapter presents Jemima Wilkinson's The Universal Friend's Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society, a pamphlet containing the Comforter's religious doctrines and practices. The primary focus of the Friend's Advice was to prescribe a set of behaviors, along with some details on how converts should lead their daily lives and engage in worship. In particular, it issued restrictions on how the faithful should dress, speak, and interact with nonbelievers. The article also shows that the Public Universal Friend's advanced coherent set of beliefs and behaviors were derived from the religious traditions of Quakerism, New Light evangelism, as well as Christian millennialism.Less

Revelation

Paul B. Moyer

Published in print: 2015-08-27

This chapter presents Jemima Wilkinson's The Universal Friend's Advice to Those of the Same Religious Society, a pamphlet containing the Comforter's religious doctrines and practices. The primary focus of the Friend's Advice was to prescribe a set of behaviors, along with some details on how converts should lead their daily lives and engage in worship. In particular, it issued restrictions on how the faithful should dress, speak, and interact with nonbelievers. The article also shows that the Public Universal Friend's advanced coherent set of beliefs and behaviors were derived from the religious traditions of Quakerism, New Light evangelism, as well as Christian millennialism.

This introductory chapter sketches the questions and goals of the overall project and the needed background information about Quakerism. It introduces the Tortola Monthly Meeting of the Religious ...
More

This introductory chapter sketches the questions and goals of the overall project and the needed background information about Quakerism. It introduces the Tortola Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (“Quakers”) which formed in the British Virgin Islands about 1740 and addresses how archaeology can approach the study of religion and religious communities. This chapter also serves as an introduction to Quakerism itself, including its ideology based on individual, un-mediated communion with God, and a brief history of the group from its foundation in the political and economic turmoil of mid-seventeenth-century England, to the “Quietism” of wealthy “Quaker Grandees” in Philadelphia, to a nineteenth and twentieth century history of schism and reunion around pacifism. The Quaker structure of Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly meetings is introduced, and connected to both community oversight and support structures. Finally, this chapter introduces three main Quaker ideals—simplicity, equality, and peace—which will be interrogated throughout the work as they change in their interactions with Caribbean slavery and geography.Less

Introduction : “In the Bowels of Our Lord”

John M. Chenoweth

Published in print: 2017-03-28

This introductory chapter sketches the questions and goals of the overall project and the needed background information about Quakerism. It introduces the Tortola Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (“Quakers”) which formed in the British Virgin Islands about 1740 and addresses how archaeology can approach the study of religion and religious communities. This chapter also serves as an introduction to Quakerism itself, including its ideology based on individual, un-mediated communion with God, and a brief history of the group from its foundation in the political and economic turmoil of mid-seventeenth-century England, to the “Quietism” of wealthy “Quaker Grandees” in Philadelphia, to a nineteenth and twentieth century history of schism and reunion around pacifism. The Quaker structure of Monthly, Quarterly, and Yearly meetings is introduced, and connected to both community oversight and support structures. Finally, this chapter introduces three main Quaker ideals—simplicity, equality, and peace—which will be interrogated throughout the work as they change in their interactions with Caribbean slavery and geography.

Chapter 2 provides a history of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) themselves and how their unusual place in the colonial process produced a more isolated, poorer set of white colonists than many other ...
More

Chapter 2 provides a history of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) themselves and how their unusual place in the colonial process produced a more isolated, poorer set of white colonists than many other Caribbean islands. The marginal agricultural potential of the BVI left them uncolonized longer than most islands and European settlement began there in a haphazard way, with no formal government, church, or other institutions. This left the settlers free to experiment with new social forms, such as Quakerism, the arrival of which is also recounted here. But this isolation also posed challenges and left them in precarious positions. This chapter also introduces the Lettsom family who will be the focus for the study along with their island of Little Jost van Dyke, before describing the archaeological work undertaken to address the project’s questions. The remainder of the volume takes up the themes of simplicity, equality, and peace, shifting between written and archaeological evidence to understand how BVI Quakers understood and enacted these ideas differently than Quakers elsewhere.Less

Contexts : The History and Archaeology of the British Virgin Islands and Their Meeting

John M. Chenoweth

Published in print: 2017-03-28

Chapter 2 provides a history of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) themselves and how their unusual place in the colonial process produced a more isolated, poorer set of white colonists than many other Caribbean islands. The marginal agricultural potential of the BVI left them uncolonized longer than most islands and European settlement began there in a haphazard way, with no formal government, church, or other institutions. This left the settlers free to experiment with new social forms, such as Quakerism, the arrival of which is also recounted here. But this isolation also posed challenges and left them in precarious positions. This chapter also introduces the Lettsom family who will be the focus for the study along with their island of Little Jost van Dyke, before describing the archaeological work undertaken to address the project’s questions. The remainder of the volume takes up the themes of simplicity, equality, and peace, shifting between written and archaeological evidence to understand how BVI Quakers understood and enacted these ideas differently than Quakers elsewhere.

Chapter 3 examines the issue of “simplicity,” how Quakerism everywhere involved a concern for economic well-being, and how the Lettsoms in particular may have benefited from their involvement with ...
More

Chapter 3 examines the issue of “simplicity,” how Quakerism everywhere involved a concern for economic well-being, and how the Lettsoms in particular may have benefited from their involvement with the Tortola meeting. Although one cannot suppose insincerity in the conversion of British Virgin Islands (BVI) Quakers, it is also true that economics and religion were intimately tied together, particularly for those in this rural, marginal part of the colonial world. This chapter discusses the economics of small-island plantations, and recounts archaeological and historical evidence of economic improvement on Little Jost van Dyke and for the Lettsoms.Less

“Two Plantations” on the Plantation : Simplicity, Wealth, and Status

John M. Chenoweth

Published in print: 2017-03-28

Chapter 3 examines the issue of “simplicity,” how Quakerism everywhere involved a concern for economic well-being, and how the Lettsoms in particular may have benefited from their involvement with the Tortola meeting. Although one cannot suppose insincerity in the conversion of British Virgin Islands (BVI) Quakers, it is also true that economics and religion were intimately tied together, particularly for those in this rural, marginal part of the colonial world. This chapter discusses the economics of small-island plantations, and recounts archaeological and historical evidence of economic improvement on Little Jost van Dyke and for the Lettsoms.

Members of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Quaker community also seem to have been particularly concerned with physical markers of their group on the landscape: meetinghouses. One expression of the ...
More

Members of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Quaker community also seem to have been particularly concerned with physical markers of their group on the landscape: meetinghouses. One expression of the idea of simplicity among Quakers elsewhere was the fact that the Quaker form of worship takes place without formal programs, hymns, or lectures, and can be conducted anywhere, even outside; yet BVI Quakers placed special emphasis on the building of meetinghouses. At least two and possibly more were built during the meeting’s twenty-year history, including at Fat Hog’s Bay, Tortola, and these structures were unique as civic buildings in the BVI at the time. The buildings also took on different meanings to different members and this discussion begins to uncover conflict among the Tortola Meeting members over how Quaker ideals are best understood and how they change to suit the Caribbean context of the group.Less

“Furnished with Convenience for a Meeting House” : Simplicity and Meetinghouses

John M. Chenoweth

Published in print: 2017-03-28

Members of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) Quaker community also seem to have been particularly concerned with physical markers of their group on the landscape: meetinghouses. One expression of the idea of simplicity among Quakers elsewhere was the fact that the Quaker form of worship takes place without formal programs, hymns, or lectures, and can be conducted anywhere, even outside; yet BVI Quakers placed special emphasis on the building of meetinghouses. At least two and possibly more were built during the meeting’s twenty-year history, including at Fat Hog’s Bay, Tortola, and these structures were unique as civic buildings in the BVI at the time. The buildings also took on different meanings to different members and this discussion begins to uncover conflict among the Tortola Meeting members over how Quaker ideals are best understood and how they change to suit the Caribbean context of the group.